Nashville Country Music Marathon Recap

** Check out my Nashville marathon preparations also***

Not sure why it’s taken me 3+ weeks to write my review about the Nashville Country Music Marathon by Rock ‘n’ Roll- perhaps I really didn’t want to relive it!  We woke up at 5 AM, caught a taxi from our hotel at 5:30 and arrived at the start line a few miles away around 5:45.  The race started out near the Parthenon & Centennial Park made a great staging ground for bag drops, food/water, corals and pre-race restrooms.

We enjoyed a beautiful, but rather chilly sunrise while we waited for the official start.  There were probably 30 corrals lined up down the road & all clearly marked.  I put down a finish time of 4:30 for us and that placed us in the 17th corral.  I (accidentally) signed hubby up for a 1:30 half-marathon which landed him in the first corral!!!   No way he was staying there & he moved back to around the 8th corral before the race.  I wish I’d taken a throw-away shirt to keep  me warm while standing around, but I knew it would heat up pretty dark quickly once the sun was overhead.

The start went off without a hitch after the national anthem & we crossed the start line about 7:20.  The first few miles were crowded, but not impossible to run.  Hubby finished his first real race and he rocked the half-marathon in 2:05!  I think I might have him hoked and convinced to run a few more just to see if he can better his time and eventually finish a full.

Our first stretch was running east back into the city down Broadway & over a few warm-up hills as we approached the Cumberland River.  The streets on this part of the course were wide and congestion eased up quite a bit through downtown.

Next we headed down South to do a loop around Music Row and around Belmont University for Miles 3-10. The streets in the neighborhood narrowed quite a bit in some places & it got VERY crowded.  I did enjoy the shady roads on some of the course & some great course support.  I was NOT happy or impressed with the bathroom situation- they were few & far between, the lines were long, we waited 5+ minutes at mile 8.

It started heating up quickly & I didn’t take too many more photos during the race.  We did a loop north of the city before meeting back up with the half-marathoners as we entered into downtown.  The industrial areas (mostly N/E of the city) had no crowd support & were monotonous- even ran through an area that smelled like chemicals/paint thinner.  Some of the water stations had hot water & we really needed cold water on such a warm day, and there was little or no shade on the course.

Stephanie & I ran all but the last 0.2 of a mile together.  I sprinted to the end, hoping to get my 5 hour marathon.  My  official finish time was 5:00:20, which I was very proud of on such a hot day.  We crossed the half-marathon marker at exactly 2:30, so we did a perfect even split (even though we had a long bathroom break the first half).  The finish was at LP field across the Cumberland from downtown, and the finish area was well organized.  My gripe was that we had to walk across this huge pedestrian bridge to get back to the city, but luckily, there were cabs waiting on the other side to whisk us back to our hotel.

The medal was really nice- the guitar and pick shape was a cute detail.  I think the full and half medals were very similar- the half-marathon people had a different ribbon.  I’ve added this to my collection & I’m looking forward to collecting several more the next few months!

MISC OPINIONS:

The 2nd half of the marathon course was very boring. I hate doing loops- and we basically did 3.5: east into the city, south/north down through Music Row and back to downtown, north/south up and then back to downtown, then east/west back to downtown to finish .  Since it was a Saturday race, the expo needed to be open until 9 on Friday since so many people came into town on Friday night and the lines on Friday night were insane!  It moved quickly, but they were long.  Snowcones at the finish line would be awesome- even for sale!  More water hoses & sprinklers on the full.   The cytomax was great, but sometimes watered down at stops.  The volunteers working water stations & the cheer groups (in costumes) were fabulous- they did a great job!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY:  Off to beautiful (and cooler than Houston) Charleston, WV today.